ARCH by HomeScreen Secures Housing for 100th Household

ARCH by HomeScreen: At-risk Renters’ Connection to Housing (ARCH) launched in March of 2021. ARCH was created through CARES Act funding, granted in 2020, to help low to moderate-income renters whose housing was affected by the economic effects of the pandemic. Over the years, the focus has shifted to help any person currently at risk of homelessness to locate safe and stable housing. This month we celebrate our 100th household approved through the ARCH program. 

Over the past three years, HomeScreen staff at Tower Grove Community Development Corporation (TGCDC) have worked on recruiting and onboarding landlords and nonprofit users to the ARCH platform. We currently work with over 380 nonprofit users from 100 different organizations. The demand from nonprofit organizations needing a resource to find affordable housing has exceeded our expectations. Homelessness is on the rise throughout the St. Louis metro area. As of April 2024, there are over 2,000 homeless individuals in the City of Saint Louis alone, a 31% increase since July of 2021 and a threshold the City had not previously crossed. 

Everyday HomeScreen works to recruit landlords to join ARCH to meet this high demand. We have worked on raising awareness of our program, the scope of the affordable housing crisis, and the benefits of working with our nonprofit partners. Through that ongoing effort, we currently partner with 243 individual landlords with properties in Saint Louis City, Saint Louis County, the Metro East, Jefferson County, and St. Charles County, but are constantly looking for more. 

We have received funding from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to recruit more landlords to join us, by researching and creating additional resources for the landlords participating in the ARCH program. HomeScreen staff participate in the national initiative Built for Zero, the City and the County Continuum of Care (CoCs), the St. Louis Metro Housing Collective. Through these outreach efforts and by collecting feedback from our existing users, we have a few additional services coming to ARCH this year, including a video series for tenant best practices and signed agreements between landlords and nonprofit partners to help resolve issues during the renters’ tenancy. We continue to work towards funding financial incentives for landlords who participate in ARCH, as well as for tenants who complete their tenancies without owing any money for damages or unpaid rent. We are eager to see this program continue to grow and make a real impact for the next 100 people we serve! 

If you have a property you would like to list on the ARCH platform, 

please contact Ella Gross at ella@towergrovecdc.org